Once Was Lost
by SerenityFalconNormandy
Summary: Written based on the Dragon Age Reddit Weekly Writing Prompt: A reunion with someone thought dead. Fen'lath Lavellan thought she was alone after Corypheus was defeated and Solas disappeared. Four months after, she finds out differently.


The gardens were quiet. When Fen'lath was in them, sitting in the sun on one of the benches, the denizens of Skyhold knew that she was not to be disturbed. Mother Giselle had tried once. Traces of the inferno that had chased the busybody Chantry Mother away still blackened a few of the stones that formed the winding paths through the trees and bushes. Cassandra and Josephine watched her from the portico, concern keeping them from the other matters of the Inquisition.

"Still no sign of Solas?" Cassandra wrung her hands. If she ever got ahold of that elf, _after_ he helped Fen and the baby, she was going to give him the thrashing of his life.

"None. Lel- _Divine Victoria_ -still has people looking and placing copies of her letter in every ruin they come across."

"Maker, I hope we can do something for them."

"As do I, my friend." Josephine was without her note board for once. She was alternating between clasping her hands and tapping her fingers on the stone wall. "Neither the College nor the re-formed Circle has been able to come up with anything, even with Cole's assistance."

"Seeker, Ambassador." Both heads turned. The messenger hung back in the doorway from the great hall. He waited for Josephine to wave him over before approaching. Jim had apparently learned the finer points of observational skills since interrupting Cullen and Lady Enchanter Amell during a private moment on the battlements not too long ago and earning himself latrine duty for a month. Cassandra eyed him, "What is it, Jim?"

"There's a Dalish man outside the gates who claims to know the Inquisitor and wishes to speak to her. A mage."

Cassandra and Josephine looked at each other and shrugged. Most of the Dalish had actively avoided Fen'lath after her _vallaslin_ had disappeared. A superstition about their goddess Mythal abandoning her for drinking from the Well of Sorrows, supposedly, even though she had gained the blessing of the Well's Sentinels to do so. Josephine nodded, "Have him escorted in."

Fen'lath had risen from her bench and was drifting along the paths. Her fingers floated over the blossoms on the bushes and they observed her in silence as they waited. Some birds chirped, calling to each other, and the door to the hall creaked open. Cassandra's eyes widened, Josephine felt her jaw drop open in shock. The resemblance to Fen was unmistakeable. His obsidian hair was shot through with wide bars of silver at the temples, and the shape of his jaw more square, but his daughter had inherited the Fade colored eyes and his nose, along with the spray of freckles that graced it, from him. Dirthamen's _vallaslin_ stood out from the dark bronze of his skin in pale blue.

Fen'lath's father inclined his head to them and said, " _Mythal'enaste_. You are Seeker Pentaghast and Ambassador Montilyet?"

Josephine started, then bowed, "Yes, and you are… Keeper Lavellan, are you not?"

"Keeper Yewvhan, or Yewvhan, please. I do not use Lavellan since I am acting as Keeper for clan Boranehn in Ferelden." He looked past them, into the garden. "Please, is my daughter-"

He choked off when he spotted her, wobbling and supported only by his grip on his Keeper's staff, then called out, " _Fen'len!_ "

* * *

Fen'lath's head whipped up when she heard the pet name she hadn't been called by in thirteen years. A spirit- _It has to be a spirit,_ Papae _is dead_ -was with Josephine and Cassandra. Spirits didn't age or grow out their hair, though. Papae _was alive?_ Papae _was **alive**!_ Stumbling forward a few steps, she stretched an uncertain hand towards him and whispered, " _Papae?_ "

He darted around the columns, staff clattering to the stone, forgotten. Bursting into the sunlight, his arms were thrown wide, whooping in the voice she had missed, " _Fen'len! Mir da'len!_ "

" _Papae! Papae!_ " She threw herself at her father, tucking herself into his arms before bursting into tears. "We thought you were dead in the Blight!"

" _Fen'len_ , oh my little girl." Yewvhan's voice was rough and breaking with tears as he rocked back and forth, holding Fen against him and pressing his cheek to her forehead. " _Ir abelas, mir da'len_. Boranehn was in a bad way after the Blight and during we could not get a messenger out because the traitor _shem_ Loghain had closed the borders."

"And after? The Blight lasted only a year, _Papae_." Fen's voice was muffled in the thick cloak Yewvhan had worn on the trek through the Frostbacks. "King Alistair and the Warden are known to be friends of the Dalish."

"The Arl. He put many of Edgehall's elves to the sword the year after the Blight ended when they rebelled against his treatment, and our trade was not welcome anywhere but the Alienage. No messengers would talk with us for fear of the Arl, and we could not spare a hunter to run to another clan or risk starving." Yewvhan's voice went hard. "Four years of that nonsense, and then he cut down and burned the Alienage's _vhenadahl_."

"He didn't! Why haven't any of the other clans heard of this?" Fen exclaimed, head whipping up and nearly cracking on Yewvhan's chin.

"That's not all, Fen'len. He killed many of the clan when we helped the Alienage elves fight back against the Arl after he confiscated the sapling we gave to them to replace the old _vhenadahl_." He sighed heavily. "A knight in the King's service managed to settle the matter, and the _hahren_ and I had planned to move the clan to the Brecilian Forest to see if the clans there had any who would be interested in helping expand our number. We would also be able to send a messenger from Gwaren since the Warden is their Teyrna. Then…"

"Kirkwall, and the mages and Templars."

"Yes. It wasn't safe for us to travel that far. But to know I was so close to my _da'len_ while the sky was torn-" Yewvhan choked off and hugged Fen'lath fiercely. "I am so proud of you, _Fen'len_."

"You barely got a look at me, _Papae_ ," Fen's voice was small, "Don't say anything you might not be sure of later."

He pulled back, grasping her shoulders and taking a good look. Lips pressed together in worry when he registered her bare face and the scars from Haven, then both his brows near shot up to his hairline when he noticed the roundness of her belly. " _Fen'len_ , are you bonded?"

Fen sighed. She dragged him to the bench in the sun, "Sit, _Papae_. You'll need to."

She fidgeted, then asked as she picked at her leggings, "What have you heard about the advisors I had during the fight against Corypheus? Specifically my arcane advisor, Solas?"

"That was his name? I had heard some of him. Very knowledgeable, but some very controversial ideas that he tried to present as truths to the clans he met before the Breach."

Fen'lath sighed, "I believe they may actually be the truth, _Papae_. He's the one who removed my _vallaslin_. He said that in the time of Arlathan, they were slave markings. I-I could not bear to have them on my face after that."

"Why would you believe him, _da'len_?" Yewvhan reached up to touch his own vallaslin, dedicating him to the keeper of secrets.

"He-he is an ancient, _Papae_. One of the true _elvhen_ , and a Dreamer. I suspected before the _vir'abelasan_ , but the events there confirmed it for me."

"..."

"Yes, _Papae_."

"Then the things he said about the Creators?"

"They are most likely true. It's why Keeper won't let me come back to Wycome."

" _Fen'len?_ "

"Yes, _Papae?_ " Her eyes glittered with tears when she met her father's eyes.

"Is he the father?"

"Yes, _Papae_. But-the Anchor," She lifted her marked hand, showing him the seam of green resting in the palm, "It's killing him. My people are trying to find Solas, but we don't have much time. None of the other mages have come up with anything to stop it. He was the only one who knew enough about the energies and who has any chance of stabilizing it and saving my baby."

"Oh, _Fen'len_ …" Yewvhan pulled her head into his shoulder. "My First was expecting to keep the clan running for at least a few months as it was. I'll stay here with you to help care for you. I will do what I can to improve my grandson's chances, and if… if he goes to Falon'din, I will be with you to guide him on his way."

Fen'lath let out a shuddering breath, "Thank you, _Papae_."

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tree over them as they sat in silence, overwhelmed at being reunited after so long apart.


End file.
